A point of sale device, also referred as a point of service device or a POS device, is a widely used electronic device in retail industry nowadays, and is mainly used for managing products and the customer information. Generally, the POS device is usually installed on a cashier desk in a convenience store, a shop or a supermarket for displaying the information and the sum of price of merchandise purchased by consumers. Consequently, it is convenient for a cashier to operate the counting task and avoid errors that may be generated in the checkout process.
Please refer to FIG. 1, which is a schematic perspective view of a conventional POS device. The POS device 1 comprises a screen body 11, a bracket base 12 and a host computer (not shown). The host computer is disposed within the screen body 11, and composed of a mother board, a hard disk, a memory or other components. The host computer is used for executing various calculations and saving the merchandise information (e.g. the amount of merchandise, the price of merchandise, the stock of merchandise, the gross profit or the like). In addition, the cashier can watch the merchandise information which is displayed on the screen.
Furthermore, with ceaselessly change of the consumer demand, the additional functions provided by the POS device 1 are increasing. Consequently, the number of components inside the POS device 1 or the number of peripheral devices of the POS device 1 gradually increases. For example, a magnetic stripe reader device 13 is located at a lateral side of the screen body for charging a card. However, it leads to some difficulties during the repair process. For example, if the POS device is abnormal or unable to be booted while being used, it is hard for a user or a service engineer to readily identify the failed component(s) among the large amount of components. Therefore, the service engineer has no choice but to disassemble the POS device 1 and check components one by one to find out the failed component(s). Actually, it takes much time for trouble shooting.
Furthermore, when the service engineer analyzes the POS device 1, it is hard for the service engineer to accurately find out the reason why the component fails only according to the factory data such as the model type, the specification, the manufactured date, etc. On the contrary, if the service engineer can further get more information about the failed component (e.g. the usage time, the use frequency and the failure rate, etc.), the device engineer can conduct the reliability analysis more effectively.
Hereinafter, some patents relevant to trouble shooting cases will be described. For example, a failure detection device is disclosed in Taiwan Utility Model Patent Number 291039. This failure detection device is installed in an electronic device having a basic input/output system (BIOS). During a hardware inspecting process by the BIOS, associated codes are transmitted to a display module and displayed on the display module. For example, the display module is a seven-segment display or a LED display. Since different codes are relevant to different hardware components, the user or the service engineer can recognize the failed hardware component according to the codes displayed on the display module. However, the failure detection device disclosed in this patent still has some drawbacks as follows.
Firstly, the BIOS is only suitable for detecting the failed hardware component related to the motherboard. Whereas, the breakdown status of the display, the hard disk or the peripheral device and the usage information cannot be obtained through the BIOS. Secondly, if the electronic device is abnormal, the user or the service engineer can only realize which hardware component fails but cannot realize the information about the failed hardware component (e.g. the usage time, the use frequency or the failure rate) through the display module. Under this circumstance, the service engineer cannot effectively repair the failed hardware component, but may only repair the electronic device by replacing the failed hardware component with a new one. Thirdly, if the service engineer who is not near the electronic device cannot initially acquire the breakdown information before repair or maintenance of the electronic device, the service engineer may recognize the failed component after reaching the location of the electronic device. If the service engineer finds that the failed component is not the expected component or the frequently damaged component, the service engineer does not usually carry the maintenance tool or the replacement article. Under this circumstance, since the service engineer has to take many round trips of carrying the maintenance tool or the replacement article, the process of repairing the electronic device is time-consuming.
Furthermore, a computer system as shown in FIG. 2 is disclosed in Chinese Publication Number CN102023917A. In the computer system 2, an embedded controller 202 is connected to plural electronic modules. The electronic modules include a dynamic random access memory (DRAM) module 22, a frequency generator 23, a BIOS 24, an input/output (I/O) control chip 25 and a central processing unit (CPU) 26. While the computer system 2 is booted, the embedded controller 202 may write the collected information S22˜S26 of the plural electronic modules into a memory module 200. Consequently, the service engineer may analyze the reason why the computer system 2 has the breakdown by referring to the information in the memory module 200. Moreover, if the embedded controller is separated from the computer system 2 and installed in a monitoring device, the embedded controller may sift out the collected information S22˜S26 of the electronic modules in advance, and then write the sifted information S202 into the memory module. Moreover, if the computer system 2 is abnormal, a warning message is generated to warn the user of the computer system 2. For example, a warning window is shown or a warning sound is generated.
However, the computer system 2 disclosed in this patent still has some drawbacks. For example, the user of the computer system 2 and the service engineer can only realize the breakdown status of the computer system according to warning message displayed on the warning window of the computer system 2. For realizing which electronic module fails or realizing the detailed usage information of the failed electronic module, the user or the service engineer has to further read out the contents stored in the memory module 200. If the breakdown of the computer system 2 is very serious, the power unit of the computer system 2 cannot successfully provide electricity, or the computer system 2 crashes and fails to be booted. Under this circumstance, the contents stored in the memory module 200 cannot be read out through the hardware components of the computer system 2. Moreover, since most users (e.g. the users in the terminal side) are usually not capable of removing the memory module 200 from the computer system 2 and reading the contents of the memory module 200 with another reading device, the failure condition cannot be eliminated by the simple troubleshooting procedure. Moreover, the service engineer who is not located beside the computer system 2 cannot clearly realize the possible problem of the computer system 2 through the interpretation of the user. In other words, the service engineer cannot make any preparation before repair or maintenance of the computer system 2.
As mentioned above, the current troubleshooting technology still needs to be improved. Moreover, the data record product for the POS device has not been introduced into the market. Therefore, the above issues should be addressed.